Syria's air defence head Hussein Ishaq killed near Damascus, rebels and activists say

Updated
Mon 19 May 2014, 6:57 AM AEST

The head of Syria's air defence has been killed in fighting east of Damascus, according to an Islamist rebel coalition and an anti-Assad monitoring group.

General Hussein Ishaq reportedly died of wounds suffered during a military offensive by president Bashar al-Assad's forces against rebels in Mleiha suburb, where the air defence administration has a large base.

"We announce good news to the Islamic nation, of the killing of one of the leaders of unbelief, general Hussein Yaqoub Ishaq, head of the air defence administration in Mleiha," the Islamic Front said in a statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group based in Britain, also reported Ishaq's death in Mleiha, which has seen heavy fighting in recent days.

Mleiha is close to the road linking central Damascus to the international airport.

It is also on the edge of the eastern Ghouta region - a mix of farmland and small towns that have formed a base for rebel fighters but which have been surrounded by Mr Assad's forces for more than a year.

State media made no mention of the death but pro-Assad websites also said the general had been killed in Mleiha.